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People who lack the immune protein TNF can still fight infection

The immune-signalling protein TNF has an essential role in inflammatory responses. Two people who were found to have no functional TNF are surprisingly healthy and able to fend off most infections, but are susceptible to tuberculosis.
  1. Charlie J. Pyle

    1. Charlie J. Pyle is in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, the Department of Integrative Immunobiology and the Department of Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

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  2. David M. Tobin

    1. David M. Tobin is in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, the Department of Integrative Immunobiology and the Department of Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

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Nearly 50 years ago, the key immune-signalling molecule TNF was discovered in mice infected with a microorganism called a mycobacterium1. Writing in Nature, Arias et al.2 now report unexpected findings about TNF’s role in the immune response of humans.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02657-2

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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